NHS Health Scotland is a national Health Board working with and through public, private and third sector organisations to reduce health inequalities and improve health. They are committed to working with others and provide a range of services to help their stakeholders take the action required to reduce health inequalities and improve health.
They have recently published a brief that explores the role of income, wealth and poverty in creating health inequalities, and the evidence for effective actions to reduce health inequalities in this area. As this briefing complements those already available (including their briefing on good work for all ), the focus here is on broader economic and taxation issues.
Key messages from the brief:
- Income and wealth inequalities are fundamental causes of health inequalities. They influence other factors such as housing, alcohol use and smoking;
- Reducing poverty and inequalities in income and wealth is important in reducing health inequalities.;
- Changing aspects of economic, taxation and social policy can have a profound impact on health inequalities;
- Income is considered to be the most important social determinant of health;
- Greater income and wealth leads to better health.
To read the full brief click here.
From Fife Voluntary Action Bulletin 27 April 2017 Opens a MS Word document containing information and links